Cheap Charlie's

Cheap Charlie's Bangkok Reviews

I just love this place. Every time I am in Bangkok, I land up here in the evening. Not just you get cheap beer and drinks here but also get to meet travelers from across the globe.

Being a regular, I have made some amazing friends up here. Learned amazing travel stories and made endless conversations. It is fun place to meet new people in Bangkok. This is at Soi 11 (By-lane) almost opposite Hotel Ambassador. A must be at place :)

Also, the place closes at 12 and after that you can go to orange bar next to it.

One of the most bizarre but interesting places I have been to during my time in Thailand. On an off-street of Soi 11 Sukhumvit, Cheap Charlie's is decorated with a whole lot of strange wooden artifacts and 'crap', and every time I go, I see something I haven't seen previously. A great atmosphere, not to mention you can watch the street as well.

The beers are cheap, from 50 or 60 baht each! Spirits are between 60 and 80 baht each, although you do get a lot of ice in your glass, and the glasses are small. Cheap beers too.

Although there are a lot of tourists who frequent the bar, the main clientele would be ex-pats. If you're looking for a good crowd of people - this is the place to go, people are always willing to start up a convo with you here.

There is no table service, and tables/seating can be limited due to the popularity on weekends, so you can find yourself waiting for a bit when ordering drinks, or trying to find somewhere to sit. Make sure you stay inside the roped/chained area, as the owners often walk around and push you back inside the area if you are drinking.

Downside - If you need to use the bathroom, make sure its only a 'wee', not 'shit', and there are signs telling you this too. The bathroom is more like a wooden shack, and not very clean either. Often you have to wash your hands over the toilet bowl using the hose, as there is no water in the sink. They tend to run out of toilet paper regularly too.

Cheap Charlies may not be for everyone, but definitely a once off must see when visiting BKK. Easy to find - your taxi driver is guaranteed to know where it is!

Cheap Charlie’s is so much more than a place for cheap beer. It is a Bangkok Icon, a classically famous and yet completely unkown corner of the city. Cheap Charlie’s represents all of Bangkok in a small, self contained expat bar on the side of building in downtown Bangkok. No really, I’m not kidding, although the list of things I am not kidding about is getting longer. It really is a bar that has been built onto the side of a building. I don’t mean ‘built’ in the way that one would make a house, or shed, or even a tent, no, Cheap Charlie’s is more like a pile of driftwood that has happened to accidentally form a bar as it washed up against the side of the building. And that really is what it is - the entire structure appears to be an accretion of Bangkok driftwood, with large phallus charms forming tables and discarded tree limbs holding up the ‘roof’. Every type of Thai charm and talisman is present, packed together haphazardly to form a sort of cage around the bar where the bar man serves his cheap beer.

Did I mention that this structure is on the side of a building? It’s not like its in the middle of traffic, although the occasional taxi does force the patrons to move their bar stools out of the way.

The clientèle is all expats and backpackers, looking for a cheap drink and some conversation in English (although I do know for a fact that a former US Ambassador to Thailand once patronized Charlies). There is no easy way to explain this place, you’ll just have to drop by. If I see you there I’ll buy you a Singha beer and introduce you to the locals, it’s a great way to get started in this town!

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